Free Web NovelChapter 49: Chapter 49
Selene and Larissa ran into the dungeons and began looking at the prisoners one by one. There was a crippled person, another whose eyes had been removed, or the skin on his nails.
"I don’t see them, " Larissa whispered to Selene.
The prisoners stared idly as they passed by. The light had disappeared from their eyes. Their entire being had accepted the fate which had befallen them.
"There they are!" Larissa yelped.
They looked like they hadn’t been overly tortured like the rest of the prisoners. The two of them were kneeling, heads falling forward, and dangling from chains fastened to their wrist.
"Oh my gosh!" Selene cried. "My goodness!" She opened the door to their cell and broke down the chains holding them. "Look at what they’ve done."
Their fingernails had been pulled, and the flesh on their thighs was burned.
"Such cruelty," Larissa mumbled, "Let’s leave from here immediately, Selene. We don’t have time."
Selene breathed in and tried to shake Clair awake, while Larissa tried to shake Theia.
Theia stirred awake, while Clair remained unconscious.
"Theia," Larissa called, "can you hear me, Theia? We’ve come to rescue you, do you hear me?"
Theia’s eyes fluttered slightly open. "My love, you came for me," she said.
"Of course I would, nothing could ever make..."
Theia’s eyelids slowly closed, and her head fell loosely to the side.
Larissa sighed. "We will need to carry them out of here, Selene. They’re too weak to be awake, let alone stand and run."
Selene nodded quickly. When they had both placed the girls on their backs, they walked back through the sea of despairing souls, but this time, their eyes and ears perked up at their every move.
They saw the shadow of the soldiers who guarded the door, and Selene motioned for Larissa to stand within the shadows and sat Clair near the wall.
She pulled out her dagger and crept towards them until she’d found their neck and ripped it to shreds. Then she dragged the bodies in, farther away from the entrance as possible, and leaned them against the wall side by side.
After she was done, she ran back to Larissa, who stood waiting, put Clair on her back, and lurched her head towards the entrance.
"I knew you’d make it!" Calista panted.
"How do we leave the palace?" Larissa asked. "Through the way we came or...?"
"We have no other options," Selene stated, " and if we don’t want to get caught, we’d better get a move on right this instant."
"Do you think they’ll survive it, though?" Calista’s voice dripped with worry. They’re already so wounded as it is; going through that filthy water might infect their wounds badly."
Selene gritted her teeth and pursed her lips. "Well then, if you have a better option, tell me, any one of you. Why do you both insist on stating the obvious?"
Larissa and Calista fell silent. fгeewebnovёl.com
"Can we go now? Or do you intend for them to catch us here?
They both turned on their heels and walked as briskly as they could while Selene followed behind with a disappointed head shake.
Thankfully, there had been no soldiers to stop them, and they reached the gulley after a while.
Calista went first, so she could hold up the girls as they pushed them through, then Clair, Selene, Theia, and finally Larissa.
"I could never get used to that smell." Calista coughed.
"Hold her up tightly," Selene hissed. "If she falls..."
"Heavens, I’m being careful as it is."
"Well, it’s not enough. Shut your mouth so that we can get out of here in one piece."
They began their walk through the town, past a few drunken soldiers and wailing children.
"Stop there!" Someone shouted behind them, stopping them in their tracks. "I said stop there." The voice was now menacingly low as it neared them. "What might have been there?" He asked. It was one of the soldiers; he smelled of alcohol, but his gait was confident.
Selene slowly placed a hand behind her, clenching her dagger tightly. She hoped it wouldn’t have to get to this.
He peered closer towards Calista and Larissa and the bodies on their back. "Turn around slowly, and follow me, if you value your lives."
In one quick move, Selene steps forward and slashes a line across his eyes. He opened his mouth to call for help, but she cut his neck a moment later.
"Run," she said. "They will find the body soon."
They ran as fast as their heels could carry them.
"Wait here," Selene ordered them when they reached the shores and went onto one of the ships and lowered a boat from the side.
As quietly as she could, she snatched a few bags of bread, satchels of water, medicine she could find, and anything else she deemed useful and then went down to meet them.
"Come on," she called.
As they pull away from the shores of the kingdom, they hear muffled voices of soldiers shouting a few things in panic.
Selene knew she would have to put a lot of distance between them or they would have no chance of survival. "Calista, row with me, quick. Larissa, make sure to hold on to the girls as tightly as possible."
After a few minutes had passed, there was no sign of the kingdom or the ships. But Selene could feel a chill in her bones. Something menacing was upon them.
"We...need...to... hide... Now," she panted as she rowed.
"Those rocks," Larissa pointed. "We could hide behind them for a while until we’re sure they’re not coming after us.
"Good idea," Selene nodded in agreement.
They rowed and rowed till they got behind the stones and secured the boat with a rope to a little rock beside them.
The girls could hear shouting from a distance.
"They couldn’t have gone far. Move those tired limbs," someone shouted.
The girls held their breath, their hearts thumping in their chests. It felt to them like it would jump out through their mouths. But the gods had other plans.
